Concept
by Hideout Writer
Summary: A human-avian hybrid falls in with the Autobots during the battle in Mission City.
1. Chapter 1

"Oww." I whispered softly. I ignored the lime green robot, and began working with my neural interface. I must have hit my head, because the damage report refused to display. Certain other displays refused to activate or de-activate

"Strange…" I muttered. "Computer, audio damage report."

"**Port and Starboard wings sustained damage. Main struts one, two, and three broken. Flight systems offline, estimated downtime, one week. Mild concussion, no downtime, down an estimated four percent reflex, visual systems may be impaired. Damage report complete."**

At that point, the large robot bent down to more closely examine me. "Are you injured?" he asked rhetorically.

"I'm fine." I replied, waving dismissively. "I'll just walk it off."

"It is not safe for you here." it said, transforming. "Get in." Sitting in front of me was a lime-green ambulance. Something about the tone of voice the ambulance used told me that I'd better not bother trying anything, and after a few moments, I entered the vehicle, sitting in the passenger seat and buckling his seatbelt. I sat with a practiced ease, as if there was nothing more normal than sitting in an ambulance with the capability to turn into a giant robot.

I'm on my way, Optimus. Ratchet said tersely.

What took so long? I had thought you were on you way three minutes ago. Hurry, or you will miss the rendezvous with the human called Samuel Witwicky. came a slightly irritated reply.

I accidentally ran over a human. He appeared out of nowhere, I never even saw him on sensors. There was an energy disruption, like an intense scan of some sort, and there he was. I barely had time to register his presence. Ratchet explained.

Was the human damaged? came the tense question.

Yes. It was unavoidable, Prime, I swear it. Ratchet replied softly. He is with me now.

How bad? Prime asked softly.

According to the human's own equipment, port and starboard wings had three struts each broken, with an estimated one week recovery, and a mild concussion. For the wings, one week of downtime, and for the concussion, just a four percent decrease in reflex. Ratchet replied. He has some…odd…technology.

What is he doing now?

For now, he is just waving his hands in the air. The movements are ordered, I think there is more that we are not seeing.

Of that you may be sure. Bumblebee is on his way with Sam and a human femme.

At last, I spoke up. "Am I a prisoner?" I asked, my tone slightly amused. It's not everyday that you see an ambulance drive itself, after all.

At that, Ratchet materialized a holoform in the driver's seat. "No, I just wanted to make sure you were alright." he said.

I snorted, not really believing his words, if he was even a he. "I already told you I'm alright."

"No, you said you would 'walk it off'." Ratchet corrected. "My designation is Ratchet, I'm a medic. Who are you?"

"My chosen designation is Ajax, seeing as how I forgot my serial number, and I'm a jack of all trades."

"Serial number?" Ratchet wondered out loud. A strange look flashed across my face, but it passed as quickly as it appeared.

"Ancient history, Ratchet." I replied. "Nothing to worry about."

"Sure." Ratchet said sarcastically. "I'm convinced." The ambulance pulled to a stop. "Get out." he ordered, the door swinging open.

I exited the intelligent vehicle, and walked farther into the alley. Suddenly, my glasses and the shoulder units lit with pulsing yellow, and there was a feedback squeal before a voice announced, quite clearly, **"Yellow Alert. Status report, three vehicles, similar readings to previous anomaly."**

"Come to think about it, I never did figure out why I woke up this morning." I muttered, tapping at a bronze bracer on my right forearm. Strange blue symbols flashed as my fingers danced across the surface, and a moment later, I pulled my favorite grey longcoat out of a swirling vortex of white-blue energy. The vortex faded away as I put on the coat, and pulled out a pair of handguns. Their presence was in my hands comforted me somewhat, and I settled on a course of action.

"Computer, mute lighting, engage assisted stealth programs." I ordered, before jumping sideways.

The lights vanished, and I landed softly, well out of the light, where I began crawling forward. I swore softly when bright headlights swept over me, and I stood up, holding my hands in the air in a gesture of surrender. My guns were already back in my pockets, thanks to my reflexes. No point in letting them see everything.

A teenaged boy and girl, approximately the same age to each other, exited the vehicle, and stepped forward as the other three vehicles transformed, and made themselves known, along with the ambulance.

The tallest one, who was initially a Peterbilt rigged for flatbed work, introduced himself as Optimus Prime, then proceeded to introduce the others.

"This is Ratchet, our medical officer, Jazz, our communications officer, Ironhide, our weapons specialist, and you've already met Bumblebee, your guardian." he said.

Ratchet spoke first. "Their pheromones indicate that the male wishes to mate with the female." he said. "And the one by the Dumpster is currently hiding his fear as best he can."

Jazz, a silver Porche, sat down on an abandoned and broken down car. "This looks like a cool place to kick it." he said by way of greeting. Ironhide pulled out a cannon, and charged it up with the words "Feelin' lucky, punk?"

I first reaction, which was almost immediate, was to jump sideways once more. A siren was sounding, keeping time with the ruby-red lights pulsing over my shoulders.

"Decepticon scum!" Ironhide said, swinging about, pointing his cannons at me.

I jumped again. I had no clue what a 'Decepticon' was, but I had no intention of sticking around to be vaporized. "Computer, raise shields, engage evasive maneuvers program. Disengage assisted stealth."

After several jumps that had Ironhide twisting about multiple times, waving around a glowing cannon, I wrapped himself around one of the struts of Optimus' left ped.

"Ironhide…" Optimus and Ratchet growled simultaneously.

"We do not harm humans." Optimus started.

"He's already a damage human, from an accident with me." Ratchet added. "I still haven't gotten the chance to properly examine him yet."

I cursed loudly at that, not wanting to be examined. "Computer, what are my energy reserves looking like?" I asked.

"**Energy reserves at 76 percent."** came the automated reply.

I nodded, it was plenty for what I needed to do, and pulled out my wand, before reaching up along my back to the base of my wings, under the coat. _"heill."_ I muttered softly, moving the stick about. After a few seconds, I pulled my arm back out, and put the stick back into it's hiding place.

While I was healing myself, Optimus began telling the story of Cybertron to Sam and Mikaela. I furtively dropped into a crouch, and began slowly moving out of the alley, hoping that the robots, Autobots as they called themselves, would be more interested in the story being told. It was not to be. Ironhide had seen me leaving, and headed me off.

"Where do you think you're going, Decepticon?" he growled.

"I have no clue what a Decept icon is." I bit back. "And it's obvious to me that you aren't of Itex design, so what's your interest in me?"

"You have strange technology." Ironhide replied. "It is not human, and your signature isn't entirely human, for that matter. What are you?"

"I'm a human-avian hybrid." I breathed out. Ironhide was able to clearly hear it, but the others were not, with Optimus' storytelling occupying their attention. "Don't tell Ratchet. It's need to know information only, and he doesn't need to know. As for the technology, it's an imitation of a variety of things I've seen in my travels, including some future technology, and some magic. It was a right pain trying to figure out the whole thing at first. I've got a pair of sensor sets, masquerading as speakers with lighting, and a neural interface pretending to be sunglasses. Can I go now, or has this inquisition only just begun?"

Ironhide stopped for a moment, then pointed back to Optimus. "You stay with us for now."

I sighed, but decided that it was better than being blasted into a few dust particles. Coming back from that would be a royal pain in the ass. "Fine. I reserve the right to remain silent, and will exercise it as I choose." I warned. "I'm not sure I trust you."

"I know I don't trust you." Ironhide retorted. "Go back towards the group now."

I stiffly did an about-face, and marched towards Optimus, the weapons specialist directly behind me.

"Ah, there you are." Optimus said, seeing me. "You are Ajax, correct?"

For a brief moment, I considered passing myself off as James T. Kirk, but decided against it. "Yes." I said wearily. "I am Ajax, commander of the Tau'ri warship _Phoenix_."

"I do not know of the Tau'ri." Optimus said.

"Look it up." I replied. "Google may help you on that one. The _Phoenix_ is a heavily modified BC-304, and only her basic shape remains unchanged. You will not find the _Phoenix_ on the internet, or at least, not mine, but you should be able to find the faction and ship class easily enough."

"You have a space ship?" Jazz asked at last.

"Yeah, because I can't survive hard vacuum like I'm sure you can." I replied.

"Based on what I have been able to see, the BC-304 class is a formidable ship, mid-range cruiser for humans." Ironhide added. "However, it's biggest weakness is that it is fictional."

I snorted. "Not the _Phoenix_. She's currently running probes through the dark side of Saturn, and doing her best to stay hidden from sensors of any design. The cloak helps in that regard."

"I am beginning to suspect that your concussion was more than mild." Ratchet said, kneeling down to peer at me.

I decided to use something I had heard Luna say now and again. "I'm just as sane as you are." I replied serenely.

Ratchet made a humph sound, but let the matter drop.

"Where do you live, Ajax?" Optimus asked kindly.

My eyes flicked up to meet Optimus' optics. "Normally, I live aboard the _Phoenix_." I stated.

"Of course." Optimus said, as if talking to an overly imaginative child. "But what about when you are on a mission that requires you to live elsewhere? Or even, when you are on leave?"

"I am never on leave." I said. "Goes with the territory. And when I'm planet side, I live off the land. Dumpster diving in the city, catching rabbits in the country, if they happen to be in the area. I sleep wherever I can find a spot that I think I won't be found in. In short, Optimus, I live wherever I happen to be."

"My scans indicate he is but a youngling, Optimus." Ratchet said. "And there's something else that bears investigation. His damage report mentioned wings, and during the scans I could run without being too intrusive. He does in fact have wings, and his genetic code is significantly different from the other humans I have seen. He is as different from other humans as Seekers are from Grounders."

"So he is a human seeker?" Optimus queried.

"You could just ask me straight up." I interjected, slightly annoyed.

"Very well." Optimus replied, holding out his massive hand. I easily jumped up into the proffered hand, and Optimus raised me up to eye level. "What are you?"

"I'm a full blown human avian hybrid. Ninety-eight percent human, with a festive two percent dash of avian for cool party tricks like wings, air sacs, blood cells with nuclei, and an increased healing factor." I said, smirking. "I am, by the standards of the human race, a freak and a threat."

"How are you a threat?" Ironhide said. "I could step on you, and that would be the end of you."

"Be that as it may, I've killed six hundred flyboys in two hours before." I replied lightly. "Eighth birthday, battle of the Grand Canyon. Six hundred flying wolves were tasked with killing or apprehending me. They failed."

"Six hundred to one?" Ironhide asked, seemingly impressed.

"Yeah. Took me two hours, and left me with a number of scars to remember the fight by." I explained.

"I was under the impression that wolves cannot fly." Ratchet said. "Would you care to explain?"

"Illegal genetic experimentation. I was one of the lucky ones, since I came out rather intelligent. I could hide rather well in a crowd if I tried hard enough. Of course, heat sensing devices would make that so much harder to do…" I replied. "Erasers were essentially werewolves that lived for a period of time ranging from six to eight years before expiring. Flyboys were the same deal, with wings added into the mix. I was up against the very first production batch, and it showed. They were clumsy in the air, but the scientists quickly rectified that within two years. My story does not matter though. From what I overheard, you are looking for a pair of glasses that will lead you to a Cube shaped artifact called the Allspark." at that, I turned to Ironhide. "See, I do pay attention in class." Did I really just say that? O'Neill must be rubbing off on me.

"Our presence on this world must remain secret." Optimus said solemnly. "Will you consent to stay with us?"

"Can I at least bargain a little?" I asked, casting a sideways glance at Ratchet. "If I'm staying with you people or robots…Autobots….eh, I'll work out the syntax later. Point is, if I stay with this group, I'm staying with you specifically. Or of course, you could just let Ironhide vaporize me with one of his cannons, though I'd prefer to avoid that scenario."

"We do not harm humans." Optimus stated. "I find your terms acceptable."

"Cool." I replied. "You might want to transform though…giant robots are hard to miss in a world like this."

Optimus seemed to chuckle, and started to lower me back to the ground, but the I simply leaped out of his hand, flapping lightly a few times before touching down.

The various Autobots transformed, and a door opened, granting access to the cab of the Peterbilt. A holoform flickered into existence in the driver's seat, taking the appearance of a man in his thirties, wearing blue jeans and a red plaid shirt.

I sat down in the passenger seat, and buckled me seatbelt as the door closed. I relaxed in the seat, entering a light sleep as the convoy moved to Sam Witwicky's house.

Once there, I got out, and waited with a bored expression on his face as Optimus and the others transformed, and generally made a mess of things while Sam searched for his great-grandfather's glasses. Just as he found them, several government cars showed up. Of course, the Autobots had already managed to get away and hide themselves, but the yard was a mess, and they had left me behind as well.

I soon found myself handcuffed, and shoved into a van along with Sam and Mikaela, my bored expression still firmly in place as one of the people flashed an S7 badge and informed them that it was a 'do anything and get away with it' badge. It took me a little bit, but I pulled off a silent and wandless _alohomora_, freeing me from the handcuffs. I leaned forward, and put my arms in my lap, without the handcuffs.

Sam was about to say something when I winked and nudged him with me foot, but the agent up front noticed anyway, and turned around to face them.

"How did you get those handcuffs off?" he demanded. He turned to the driver. "Stop the van!"

I shrugged passively, and laid my head against the headrest. I seriously didn't like the guy, and pissing him off sounded like fun.

"I'm ordering you to tell me how you did it!" the agent yelled. "Speak, or I'll have you put away and I'll personally throw away the key."

"I was taught that if I have nothing nice to say, that I should say nothing at all." I replied. "Also, I have the right to remain silent. I will exercise that right as I please." I'm still not sure if it was the words or the bored monotone in which the words were delivered, but I was pleased to note that the agent went ballistic.

A moment later though, the vehicle was lifted up. "That would be Optimus, here to rescue us, I expect." I said dryly. "Not that I need rescuing…"

"Oh, I'm sure you have a plan for getting out of here, then?" the agent sneered.

I considered my options. Truth it is, then. "Yeah, actually. I was going to just sit around and wait for the _Phoenix_ to lock onto my emergency distress beacon, and transport me out."

"Do you know who I am?" the agent asked.

"Yeah, you're the guy with the do-anything-and-get-away-with-it badge." I replied, feeling like a smart-ass. "Do you know who _I_ happen to be?"

"Yeah, you're the guy in my custody, because I'm Director Simmons, and I'm in charge of S7, and you have no chance of getting out of my custody."

"Whatever." I replied, as the car fell back to the ground without a roof. "My name is Ajax, Commander of the Tau'ri warship _Phoenix_. If my calculations are right, then the _Phoenix_ will start receiving my distress call right about….now."

"Why so long?" Simmons sneered.

"She's in orbit around Jupiter." I replied, deadpan. "She'll be breaking orbit and heading here at full speed. I wouldn't be surprised if she tries an in-system hyperspace jump."

"Taking the children was a poor choice." Optimus warned, looking sternly into the car. "Everyone out. Autobots, relieve them of their weapons."

I admit, I snarled a little as my precious .45s were snatched out of my coat pocket, followed by an assortment of knives and other small weapons, but got out of the car and waited, my posture relaxed. Anything to piss off potential enemies. "Ironhide." I said loudly. "I want my toys back. I think I can handle them responsibly."

"Then come get them." the weapons specialist replied. Figures. Why should he return them to me when I can go over and get them?

I walked over to Ironhide, and picked up my prized .45s, momentarily holding them as if they were my children. Ironhide quirked an optic ridge, recognizing my general attitude as the same attitude he had when working with his weapons.

I finished retrieving my weaponry, and smiled slightly as I placed the handguns into the pockets of my longcoat. I then walked back to my previous position, leaning against the roofless vehicle.

The Autobots picked up Sam and Mikaela after the agents had been handcuffed, then beat a retreat as air support appeared. I went with them, preferring aliens to government imbeciles. Soon after, Mikaela fell, then Sam fell, and while Optimus managed to catch Mikaela, Bumblebee was forced to break cover in order to catch Sam. The scout was quickly captured, and Sam went to try and help.

I snarled in rage as he saw the S7 goons attempting to freeze Bumblebee, and I dropped from my perch, winging my way towards the fallen mech. Twice my .45 roared, and twice a bullet ricocheted off of worn pavement.

"I missed on purpose!" I bellowed. "Release Bumblebee, or there will be a body count tonight!"

"Secure the robot!" Simmons ordered. "And subdue that freak too, he could be interesting to study."

"Study this!" I screamed, flinging a small throwing star. It embedded itself in Simmons' arm, missing a minor artery by a quarter inch. Nobody calls me a freak lightly.

The next thing I knew was an intense cold as someone turned a CO2 fire extinguisher on me. The automated systems in my neural interface screamed a temperature warning at me as the sensor nodes shut down from the cold. The display generated in my visual cortex by the interface flickered, strange colors flaring through the various generated readouts, then one by one, the readouts near the edge of my vision winked out, and my sight grew dim. A moment later, the last display blinked out, and I knew only blackness…

_A/N: I'm finally coming back to this story. I was dissatisfied with how it worked out the first time around, so I'm rebooting and trying it again. Stay tuned!_


	2. Chapter 2

I didn't bother opening my eyes as I felt my mind restarting from the cold induced blackout. Everything seemed to be alright, though my glasses and sensors were gone. The glasses, having been active for several years, had left behind an imprint that I was able to use, but it was severely limited. I silently and motionlessly activated the latent imprint, and picked through what information was available. Everything seemed to be functioning, and something was trying to touch me. Rather, it wanted to touch my core. I had subconsciously raised shields, but whatever the force was, it seemed insistent.

Well, I had no alternative methods of gaining more information, so I ever so slightly opened one eye. I didn't see anything, so I opened both eyes fully, and looked around at the cage I was in. It appeared to be an eight foot cube, and I noticed security cameras built into the cage.

"Oh good, you've awoken." Simmons said gleefully. "Do you know where you are at?"

"Hoover dam." I replied softly.

Simmon's face darkened slightly. "How do you know that?" he demanded.

"Those with ears to hear and eyes to see can read the earth and it's fields like an open book." I replied airily. My tone solidified to that of a teacher instructing a student. "The lines of the Earth speak volumes, if you can read them. Combined with an excellent working knowledge of Earth geography as of the Earth year two thousand and five, particularly that of the nation known as the Unites States of America, lead to an extremely well-educated guess as to my current whereabouts. That, combined with a basic understanding of psychology, tells me I am right." I finished confidently. As I had hoped, he turned away, a little irritated.

"It doesn't matter what you know." Simmons said at last, trying to be dismissive. "You won't be leaving here alive. You won't even be leaving here dead. We'll just vaporize your body when you die."

"In that case, I can ask any questions I'd like, and there should be no problem answering them." I replied happily. "After all, I won't be able to leak anything sensitive. First question. What's the local energy that I feel? I've never felt anything like it on Earth. For that matter, I never felt that much power anywhere."

"That's classified." Simmons replied.

"Fine." I allowed. "What gives you the right to hold me here?"

"I can do whatever I like in the name of National Defense." Simmons answered. He smirked, and I glowered.

"I am a citizen of the Tau'ri empire!" I shouted, pretending to be furious. "Moreover, I am the Commander of the Tau'ri warship _Phoenix_, the only vessel of it's kind. You are too low for me to talk to you, and yet here I am, talking to you. I could recite engine tolerances, shield frequencies, the secret to artificial gravity, hyperdrive engines, energy weapons, even how to access alternate realities. You know what I'm doing instead?" I asked rhetorically. I turned from my pacing, and whirled to face him, and when I spoke again, it was a dangerously soft tone that I knew he was straining to hear. "I'm talking with a near-worthless and probably incompetent government official who prefers his shiny 'get-away-with-anything' badge over doing the right thing. Since, by your words, I am your prisoner, I must inform you of something. As your prisoner, I am honor and duty bound to make life as difficult as I can for you, and escape if possible."

"Good luck with that." Simmons said, traces of glee leaking into his voice. "This place makes Fort Knox look like a two-year old's bedroom."

I rolled my eyes, adopting an imperial tone of voice. "Leave me." I said, waving my hand dismissively. "I have plotting to do." With that, I retreated into the room slightly, and sat down on the bed, in the classic pose of 'the thinker'.

Simmons started talking again, but I ignored him, and cautiously lowered my shields. Suddenly, I realized my magical core was reaching out towards the strange energy, even as it reached out towards my core.

The two forces seemed to slam into each other, and I gasped, doubling over from the strength of the surge. I felt the strange power surging into my mind and body, and for a brief moment, I considered stopping the flow, but it continued into me unhindered.

My displays were flickering oddly, some of the script shifting to odd symbols I didn't recognize. I already knew what my readouts were, and where they were located, but it still concerned me. I again seriously considered closing off the flow, but in the end my curiosity won out, and I left the shields down. A few moments later, as the last of my readouts changed script, and the flow stopped of it's own accord.

Everything blinked off again, and I fell asleep, exhausted. My last thought was about the irony of being tired after receiving so much energy.

I awoke again, four hours later, and saw that my situation was unchanged. Well. That would soon change, wouldn't it?

I touched my hand to the door, and silently pushed my magic into it. It clicked, and I pushed the door open. Something felt off about my magic, but I didn't feel like pursuing it.

The new energy that had attached itself to my magic seemed to resonate with something elsewhere in the complex, so I used it as a navigation beacon. I still had well over five hundred feet when the lighting switched over to emergency, and I closed my eyes, thinking of the beacon I was navigating by.

One squeezing sensation later, and I was standing near a massive cube. "You are the source of that download?" I muttered, somewhat disbelieving.

Suddenly, I saw it pulse, and I turned to see where the pulse had gone. In a heavily fortified room, a cell phone in an armored box came alive. Red optics took in the situation, and guns began peppering the bulletproof glass. I saw Simmons pull a handle, and the cell/bot was instantly fried. I felt a surge of anger on behalf of the bot, but I tamped it down. My escape took first priority. I found Bumblebee, tied down and still in the process of being frozen.

It looked to me that Bumblebee was my best bet, so I raised my hand, and touched on my other magic, since it was unchanged. I didn't want to risk frying Bumblebee. _"Slytha!"_ I barked. The various people fell over, asleep, and I turned my attention to the scout. "Sorry it took so long for me to get here." I said. "I was imprisoned, and a giant cube downloaded something into me."

"Starfleet will be interested in this, captain." came an audio clip.

"Sure, sure." I replied. "Later though. We can't deal with that right now. Hold still…_jierda_." I broke the cables holding the mech to the table, and began warming the chest area as best as I could.

I worked silently and efficiently, then hurried up as I heard voices coming closer.

"…your car is confiscated, kid."

"So _un_-confiscate it." Sam replied.

"We can't do that." Simmons replied.

Another man spoke up. "Give the kid his car back." It was then that I heard the click of a weapon. I smiled, knowing that I wasn't the only one working to free Bumblebee.

"You wanna stake the fate of the world on the kid's Camaro? Fine, that's cool." Simmons replied.

They entered the chamber, and Sam rushed over to the scout's head. "Bee, are you okay?" he asked, concerned. Bumblebee nodded in response.

"Good, the Cube is this way." Sam said, starting to walk away again.

I crawled out of Bee's chest cavity, satisfied that he was probably warm enough to function.

"You!" Simmons shouted. "How did you get here?"

"I followed my nose." I replied, jumping down to the ground. "Your men should wake up in about…five minutes."

"Why are they all asleep?" Simmons asked, anger in his voice.

"They were in my way." I replied. "Come on, Bee, let's go find the Cube thing."

"You aren't allowed to do this!" Simmons said.

"I don't think any of the natural laws have stopped me yet." I replied. "And, as I have not killed anyone thus far, I'm doing better than you. That cell phone? Sentient life. You used the Cube to make and then destroy life." With that, I followed Sam out of the room, Bumblebee following right behind.

Bmblebee touched the Cube, and I watched with amazement as it folded into itself, making itself much smaller. I could have carried it in it's smaller size, and with relative ease.

The Camaro then transformed to it's alternate mode, it's doors hanging open.

"I've got the Allspark with me." Sam said, getting into the car. "You getting in?"

"No." I replied. "I'm going straight to Optimus."

"And how do you plan to manage that?" Sam asked, looking at me strangely.

"Externalizing internal energy to short-range teleport myself." I replied calmly. "See ya there." With that, I twisted sharply on my heel, and vanished with a small pop.

I reappeared, slightly louder, and somewhat off-balanced, right next to the red and blue tractor. Optimus transformed in surprise, and Ironhide had weapons trained on me a moment later.

"I come in pieces?" I asked, a small smile on my face.

"Your appearance out of nowhere caught us off-guard." Optimus explained. "Ironhide, lower your weapons."

Ironhide vented unhappily, but lowered his precious cannons, and I breathed a little easier.

"Thank you." I said politely. "We've got trouble coming up. Best bet is to get the Cube somewhere harder for them to access. We need to make the playing field as stacked as possible in our favor."

"Where did you learn to think like that?" Optimus asked softly.

"I've been in trouble before." I replied. "and I found that if you are fighting fair, you are already loosing."

"Spoken like a warrior." Ironhide rumbled.

"Yet you are only a youngling. How do you come to have such a cynical outlook?" Ratchet added.

"That's my story." I replied softly. "And it doesn't matter at this time. They are taking the Cube to Mission City, where air support will take the Cube to safety. Sam and Bumblebee have the Cube, and they should be coming out any time now."

"Very well." Optimus said. "We will help in this plan."

With that, the Autobots transformed, waiting to fall in behind Bumblebee. Optimus had his door open for me, but I climbed up behind the cab, and got a secure grip on the chains hanging there.

After several moments, the door closed softly, and I felt the reluctance of the Prime, but did not move from my position. A few moments later, Bumblebee was racing out of the complex.

"Step on it, Prime!" I said loudly. "Megatron is thawing out. He'll be ready to go in about fifteen minutes."

Engines roared, tires spun, smoke rose up, and the group left the area. We were racing down the highway when I saw a rather menacing vehicle appear in the traffic behind us.

"We have trouble on our six!" I yelled out. The following several seconds seemed to go in slow motion as I let go of the chains, and jumped off of Optimus' frame.

I snapped my wings open, and flapped hard, picking up altitude. When I'd reached an altitude of just over fifty feet, I leveled off, and prepared to fight against the Decepticon forces that were chasing the group.

I hardly knew what I was doing, but went on a hunch, and tapped into my magic, and sent a small bolt of energy directly at a nearby Decepticon's spark chamber. It connected, and drilled through the rather thick armor before touching the glowing spark beneath. There was a brilliant flash, and the 'con laid over, motionless. I was rather useless for most of the rest of the battle, as I hung around in the air, wondering at the strange power I had acquired.

We had gotten into the city, and had done a hell of a job, but it had started rather sour for us when Lennox popped a green smoke, which Starscream then used for target practice.

A stray shot had separated Bumblebee from his legs, and Megatron had ripped Jazz in two. I quietly cast a _reparo_ spell at him, since both halves were already very close, and then I went over to him.

"I don't know how tough your people are, so I don't know if you could have survived for long or not, but do me a favor, okay? Don't move. I believe the expression is 'play dead', unless you have a clear shot at one of the bad guys. Do you understand?"

The silver bot nodded slightly, and I grinned. "Good. I'll be back later."

With that, I dashed off to find Bumblebee, and I put his legs back on for him. Sam had gone off on foot with the Cube, and after I finished fixing Bee, I told him to get Mikeala, and wait for Sam. He nodded in comprehension as I flew away.

I met Sam as he came out of a roof door, holding the Cube. "Give me the Cube, and go back to Bumblebee. I put his legs back on. You need to get out of the city, as fast as possible."

"But what about the Cube?" he protested.

"I've got experience in surviving despite the odds." I replied.

"Against giant alien robots?" he asked.

"No, but on the other hand, my eighth birthday party was the battle of the Grand Canyon, in which I took out six hundred flying werewolves." I replied. "I think I can handle three or four giant alien robots. When you get to Bumblebee, I want you to just drive. Get out of here, don't look back, don't slow down, just drive."

Sam nodded as he handed over the Cube, then turned and dashed down the stairs.

I took a flying jump off of the building, and flew in the opposite direction, even as Megatron roared "Give me the Cube!"

"If I cannot kill Megatron, unite the Cube with my spark." Optimus said solemnly to me. "It will destroy the Cube…and me."

"I understand." I replied softly.

A short but intense battle followed, and they seemed to be matched in strength. "Do it!" Optimus said.

"Give me the Cube!" Megatron said, turning towards me.

"I will comply." I replied. "Don't bother, Optimus, I'm trying to save my world. Come here, Megatron, and I will surrender the Cube to you."

"At last…" the Decepticon leader hissed. He approached, and I looked up at him, then launched myself towards his spark, ramming the Cube into the tight space.

The Cube detonated, flinging me backwards, and I was knocked unconscious from the blast.

_A/N: Hideout Writer is not here at the time, so leave you name and review after the tone._

_*beeeep!*_


	3. Chapter 3

It was dark, yet well lit, a chamber I was well acquainted with. Death would meet me here when assigning my missions. I wondered what was up. Just then, Death entered, and slammed the door behind him. "You are fired!" he ground out.

Oh, this was going to be trouble. Still, I needed to find out. "Why?" I asked softly.

"You know damn well why." Death snapped furiously. "But since you appear to have taken leave of your brain, I'll tell you. You have anchored yourself to that world."

"What? When did that happen?" I asked, indignant.

"When you let the Cube download itself into you." Death sneered. "The Allspark knew that it's time was coming to an end, and sought to preserve it's power. You were the closest being willing to accept the task. You are the replacement Allspark, and if I were the Autobots, I'd take you back to the store, and demand a refund! Quite frankly, you are a rather poor imitation of the original."

"I…what? This makes no sense whatsoever." I replied, thoroughly confused.

Death rapped his head against the wall in frustration. "You are so _thick_, Ajax!" he said. "Very well. I will explain it to you, slowly. Primus created the Cube."

"Okay, I'm with you so far." I replied.

"The Cube was self aware, and knew of it's imminent destruction."

"Still with you." I replied, wondering where he was heading.

"It possessed the power to transfer itself to another vessel, provided said vessel was compatible. Any bot would do. Bumblebee was in range, Megatron was in range, and _obviously_, you were in range. It would not choose Megatron, for very obvious reasons, and Bumblebee's firewalls were solid enough to keep the Cube out. Your mental shields were likewise strong enough, but you chose to make the stupid choice, and see what it was that was tapping on your shields."

"I'd never felt anything like it before." I replied honestly. "I was curious."

"Bah! You were stupid. Imbecilic, even! Let me guess. You still don't know why it chose you."

"No, I don't." I replied stiffly. I was on the edge of being incredibly pissed off with Death, for how much he was insulting me.

"Primus had a sister. Her name was Gaia."

Oh. Shit. "As in…? I asked weakly, knowing the answer, and hoping it wasn't.

"Yes, the Mother of Magic." Death snapped. "Because of the familial resemblance, you just happened to be compatible enough for the Allspark to download into you. And it is because of that download that you may never leave that reality. So. I'll take the ring with my seal on it, I'm taking your immortality, or at least, the immortality that you got as part of my employing you, and I'm taking from you all other powers that resulted from our deal. I'm also removing, without a trace, the trans-reality drive from the _Phoenix_, her memory banks, as well as your memories and Amaranth's memories. For all you know, from this point forward, you were flung into the different realities by Fate, whenever she was in the mood. Now, begone from here, I refuse to see you face again!"

With those words still ringing in my ears, displays winked on in sharp succession, and I spent a moment quietly looking over the data. I registered a pair of IV tubes in my arm, and a few other sensors, which meant that my wakeful status was probably known to somebody. I was laid face down, which told me that whoever it was knew of my wings. The damage report was completely gibberish to me, and I sighed in irritation. I was able to get by on the picture, but the text was typically just as informative. Between the text and picture, I could typically get a complete and accurate medical picture. Oh well. It appeared that I had taken an explosion that flung me out of the sky, knocking me out in the process. In that respect, I was glad for the explosion. Falling out of the sky while conscious and damaged typically leads to injuries being far worse, and I never figured out how to hit the ground like a rag doll without being knocked out first.

My wings were busted, and I had burn damage on most of my front side. My right arm was broken, but someone had already set it, and it seemed to be mending already. I carefully rolled out of bed, and yanked out the IV tubes in my arm. I took off the other sensors, not knowing what they were, and not really caring.

The medical bay was large, really large, and seemed to be a recently converted warehouse. One of the machine was wailing, and I heard loud footfalls approaching.

"All the slagging sensors just went offline, but it was one by one. The organic is awake, and probably ambulatory." I heard Ratchet saying.

I saw one large door, and a smaller door along a different wall. I ducked out the smaller door while Ratchet was opening the larger door.

My front still felt like it was on fire, and I waved my hand over the burns. _"Heill."_ I said. The sensations died away, and I smiled. "Much better." I muttered. I added a string of ancient words, healing the broken bones in my wings. With that, all that was left was my broken arm, but it was good enough that I didn't bother with it. I wasn't sure if it was going to be trouble, but left it be, not yet ready to expend the energy required to fix it.

I was still thinking of a place to hide when I heard Ratchet approaching. I hid as best as I could, and he stomped past without seeming to notice me. I breathed a sigh of relief, then groaned as a new alert showed up. My adrenal system was still pumping adrenaline into my bloodstream. I was starting to twitch rapidly, and I used the system to forcefully deactivate the adrenal glands. I got myself out of my hole, even as everything was starting to fade from the sudden drop in adrenaline. I laid myself down so I wouldn't harm myself in falling, and was unconscious a moment later.

When I awoke, my displays had changed. It wasn't just the script anymore, the readouts themselves had changed. They weren't monitoring the same things anymore. I was feeling especially sluggish, mentally speaking, and it took me several moments before I decided to sit up.

For some reason, I was back in Ratchet's medical bay, which did not please me at all. I started to ask why in the blue blazes I was back in such unfriendly territory when I realized I wasn't making any sort of intelligible noise, just an odd collection of beeps, whistles and chirps. Horrified, I looked at myself. I will spare you the knowledge of the profanities I had been trying to say, but I did make quite the racket.

I looked up at Ratchet, still attempting to spew invectives, and he smiled down at me.

"You are quite cute." he cooed.

Cute? What was I? Some sort of baby? I stopped my tirade, and sat down. It was at that point that Optimus decided to walk in.

"How's our little sparkling doing, Ratchet?" he asked.

"All signs are normal right now." Ratchet replied. "He seems quite talkative."

"Well, I found another sparkling." Optimus said, putting his hands on the table.

Ratchet's cooling fans clicked on at full blast, and I looked up at him. What was so strange about finding another? Are they important somehow? I looked back to Optimus' hands, and saw a familiar shade of green. I'm pretty sure I knew where Amaranth was, now.

She slowly walked over to me, and chirped a few times before becoming slightly agitated over not being able to speak. I put a metal finger up to my face in the classic shushing gesture, and she proceeded to flip the bird before sitting down.

I chuckled, and sat down beside her, feeling completely at peace.

Ratchet examined us, and took a sample of energon to find out what grade we needed, and when he was finished, I jabbed my finger towards the ground several times to make my point, clicking, beeping and whistling while I was at it.

Ratchet chuckled, and held out a hand, and I climbed up, followed by Amaranth. When we got to the ground, we climbed off, and exited the medical bay, optics alert for threats.

One of the military guys, Lennox, I think he was called, approached. "Hey Ratchet. When did these two arrive?"

"I don't know." Ratchet said. "They are not Autobots. Not yet, at least. For now, they are sparklings…what you would call babies."

That explains the horribly annoying baby talk. Oh well, it's one of the things I'll have to bear until I can voice my displeasure. I brightened up, and went over to the man, miming writing. It took him a little bit, but then he dashed off, saying he'd be right back.

A few minutes later, he came back. "I found a desk with some paper and a few pens." he said. "It's out of the way, so we can finish putting the base together."

Ratchet nodded his understanding, and Lennox led the way.

Amaranth seized the pen first.

_**What did you do?**_

**Nothing**

_**Bullshit. I'm made of FUCKING metal. SOMETHING has happened.**_

**Death fired me.**

_**Oh hell no.**_

…**yeah.**

_**How the hell did you get fired?**_

**Uh…Death said 'you're fired!' and the deal was done.**

_**Still doesn't explain the part about us being made of METAL!**_

**You did warn me that if I kept listening to metal, I'd eventually turn into metal.**

_**I hardly expected that to ACTUALLY happen.**_

**Doesn't change the facts, now does it?**

_**Don't get fresh with me. Explain. Now.**_

**I let the Allspark download into me. It knew that it was going to be destroyed soon, and sought to transfer itself. Bumblebee's firewalls were too strong, it never would have chosen Megatron, and because of a family resemblance, it was able to chose me.**

_**Family resemblance?**_

**Yeah…Gaia and Primus are siblings.**

_**Fuck.**_

**That was my reaction. How was I supposed to know that it was trouble? Death tore me a new one for that.**

_**Good, spares me the trouble of writing down the tearing a new one I was going to perform.**_

**You think I'd have done this if I had even a CLUE about what would have happened?! I'm not THAT brain-dead.**

_**So how do we talk? I'm still trying to get over the fact that I'm made out of metal.**_

**Best guess? It's some sort of a program…maybe we need to download it, or maybe it comes online later. I don't know.** Even as I considered the idea, I felt a strange sensation in my head. On a whim, I tried to speak. "Amaranth? Hey, it worked!"

_**What worked? How did you figure it out?**_

"It's a program." I explained. "You need to think about a program for speech."

"That was a strange sensation." Amaranth muttered at last.

"Agreed." I replied. "I think we should forget our past…for now. Maybe…maybe one day we can open up, but I'm definitely not ready yet."

"Very well, we shall keep it under wraps." Amaranth said. "Personally, I'm going to pretend I haven't figured out speech yet, and we'll see what the Autobots want to do."

"Sounds good." I replied. "I'll do the same."

With that, I took the piece of paper, and efficiently shredded it. None would know our secret yet.


End file.
